Collaboration
by Ryuu - The Green Wonder
Summary: Oneshots of the Mario universe. Rating that is established will be the top rating, but each individual chapter has a different rating.
1. Forget Me

**A/N: **First of my collection fan fictions. Ha, I'm really bored here in Computer Apps. Practically finished all of my work already. This class isn't in the least challenging, I'd say. I don't _want _to vote for anyone in the class president elections – I mean, I may be a _freshman _(which is the most important year for someone to learn to vote) but that doesn't mean I have interest in it at all. I'd rather write fan fictions, ya see.

This one's quite short. It's supposed to be to the point.

I typed this all out on a school computer.

PLEASE NOTE: People will see the line "I love you" spoken by both brothers. This is _not _incest. I don't like incest – it's yucky! If you feel like interpreting it as such, then fine, but from my perspective, it's not. Don't you say "I love you" to a family member? If you don't, you have serious issues. Seriously.

--

For this particular one:

**Title: **Forget Me

**Genre: **Hurt/Comfort/Family

**Characters: **Mario & Luigi

**Description: **Leader of the useless – that's what Luigi claims to be. Mario disagrees.

**Rated: **K

--

_Where do I belong?_

_Among the useless, that's where._

_I'm practically the leader._

Luigi grasped a pen in his hand, shifting a piece of paper from a pile of printer papers to the desk. He trembled at the very words he wanted to write on the piece of paper. Lady Luck wasn't smiling on him today, so why should She now? But Luigi had to go through with his thoughts, whether or not it held misfortune for him in the future. He had come _this _far – he couldn't stop where he was.

Luigi pressed on the end of the pen to write with it, and scribbled down words with his neat and curly handwriting. _"I can't remain here, Mario. I don't feel like I belong." _What a nice start, Luigi reflected bitterly. He continued writing, knowing how awkward he sounded throughout this letter already. _"The princess doesn't need me. She needs you. Neither does Daisy. And Yoshi never liked me, anyway." _He knew he was going to get yelled at by Mario for the last sentence, but he could care less. _"I'm sorry I've been so useless to you over the years. I really am."_

_I really am…_

Luigi mentally cursed himself for getting so emotional while writing – already he could feel unshed tears starting to make their way toward the surface of his eyes. He made this decision, and it was only honesty speaking when he said he was useless. Because he had been.

_"Don't follow me when I leave, Mario. Forget me."_

Because the pain would be less for him if Mario didn't pursue him, he felt like adding that line. Tears started to well up in his eyes.

"_I love you, Bro."_

He pushed the desk away from him, and, before the tears could start flowing, tagged the paper to the refrigerator. He put the pen away with the other pens and pencils, and, without even so much as grabbing a coat, headed out the door into the blistering unknown, leaving only a note behind as evidence that he had even been inside the house.

--

Mario knew immediately upon coming to the house that something was wrong. A note was on the refrigerator, and he didn't see Luigi, nor did he feel the other's presence. When he walked within the door, he had been in a chipper mood – and now, with all seriousness, he was reading the note Luigi had left behind.

Luigi had been guarding the fort, as per usual, when Mario had left the house. Mario hadn't even noticed how downtrodden Luigi seemed. Mario had left simply because the princess was kidnapped _again _by Bowser (as she was practically every Thursday) and he needed to rescue her. Mario liked saving the princess – even though it could sometimes be a pain, it definitely made his life a bit more interesting every day. He hardly ever invited his brother, but whenever Luigi went, it made the adventure more exciting. This time, however, Luigi had insisted upon staying home, like as if home was his lifeline. (Which, if you had asked Luigi, he would probably say it was.)

Mario scanned the note, his eyes growing more and more serious as he read.

_"I'm leaving."_

_What?_

_"I can't remain here, Mario. I don't feel like I belong. The princess doesn't need me. She needs you. Neither does Daisy. And Yoshi never liked me, anyway."_

For the last sentence of that paragraph, Mario felt like smacking his little brother upside the head. Yoshi _loved _him. But he didn't comment, as he continued reading.

_"I'm sorry I've been so useless to you over the years. I really am."_

Mario started to tremble. _You're not useless to me, Luigi, _he yearned to scream out, but Luigi wasn't there to hear. _I never thought you were useless. And I never thought you thought… I left you to suffer. This is my fault._

_"Don't follow me when I leave, Mario."_

This request completely caught Mario by surprise. It wasn't like Luigi not to want his presence. What had Luigi been thinking when he wrote this?

_"Forget me."_

_No…_

_No…_

_I can't do that. I would __**never **__do that. That's one request I can't follow._

Mario was frozen now. He couldn't just _forget _Luigi. And even if he could, he wouldn't do it, anyway. Luigi was his _brother _– his _best friend_.

_"I love you, Bro."_

Mario crumpled the paper with his hand, feeling tears start to threaten him. _Luigi… _He had to find his brother. He couldn't follow that kind of request – to just forget him, and abandon him. Luigi _needed _him. And, gosh darn it, he would _find _Luigi.

With that last thought in mind, Mario, taking a coat with him, stormed out the door.

--

It was confrontation – and it wasn't exactly nice confrontation. It was cold, very cold. It would rain soon.

Mario had seen him – apparently, it hadn't been long since Luigi had left the house, so he was easily caught up to. What surprised him the most was where Luigi was apparently heading – Star Hill. It had been a long time since either of them had been there, and though admittedly the place was beautiful, it wasn't the best place to seek refuge from others. Perhaps he wanted guidance from Star Hill. Of course, Mario would never let him the opportunity.

Mario felt his heart droop when, upon touching Luigi's shoulder, the latter flinched.

Whirling to face him, his eyes swimming with tears, Luigi cried out, "_Why _did you follow me!?"

"Because I can't abandon you," Mario replied honestly, meeting Luigi's gaze evenly, but feeling crushed inside. It hurt him, seeing Luigi like this.

"You're abandoning me _by _following me," Luigi argued, turning around. It seemed he was insistent upon leaving. Mario reached out and touched Luigi's shoulder again, this time the latter not flinching but instead shouldering Mario's hand off.

"Listen," Mario began, but Luigi cut him off.

"No, _you _listen." Mario quieted down, a bad feeling stirring in the pit of his stomach. "I'm done here. I don't belong. I'm the leader of the useless."

"No, you—"

"I don't want to hear it!"

Mario started despairing. If his little brother wouldn't even listen to what he had to say, then how could he convince him to come back? "Look, Luigi—"

"It's always the same for you, isn't it?" Luigi interrupted yet again, his voice starting to increase in volume. "You and your happy-go-lucky attitude, believing everything is okay, when it's _not_!" Mario clamped his mouth shut, staring wide-eyed at Luigi. "You don't care. You just _don't care_. You didn't bother to pay attention, or to help me, or anything of the sort!"

"I _love _you, Luigi. How could you think any differently?"

"Then why don't you _show _me?"

Mario couldn't take it anymore. He approached his younger brother, who was backing away like as if he was angry – and then, Mario grasped him in a hug. The younger brother gasped. "Please, don't leave," Mario whispered. "I—I'm sorry. This is my fault."

"It's—It's not…" Luigi whispered, shocked.

"But you felt like I didn't love you. And I do."

"I—"

"Please, give me a chance."

Luigi thought for a second, frozen. And then, he slowly hugged Mario back.

Maybe being the leader of the useless wasn't so bad, after all.


	2. Dysfunctional Fate

- - - - - -

**THE DYSFUNCTIONAL FATE**

**Characters:** Mario

**Rating:** T (for cursing)

**Summary:** A brother with a nightmare (stuck in a coma), a delusional princess, a worried Toad, and a maniacal dragon bent on destruction. Mario's got it cut out for him.

**Genre: **Angst/Hurt/Comfort

**A/N: **This is a concept I just thought up. It basically makes the Mario world a lot more… angsty. I might continue this idea through an actual story, but for now it's a oneshot.

"Master Mario! Master Mario!"

If he hadn't heard that cry a thousand times in the last day…

"Master Mario! The princess, she—"

It wasn't three seconds before the chubby plumber was beside the old Toad, watching the princess's room carefully, scrutinizing it like as if a monster was going to slam the door any second. "What, Toadsworth?"

The old Toad seemed to sniffle as he brought his hand up to his eyes. "She's doing it again," he gasped. "She attacked me."

Mario sighed for what seemed like the thirtieth time that day. He had enough of this already, and it had only been a month or two since his world had been flipped upside down. "She—she doesn't know she did it," the red-clad man explained. "Don't take it personally." After all, the princess thought she saw Bowser yesterday, and the dragon was safely tucked away within his castle.

Toadsworth flung himself to the ground, grasping Mario's knees desperately. "Oh Mario," he almost sobbed, "I can't take much more of this!"

_Neither can I, _thought the chubby plumber sadly.

It had started a month or two ago. It was surprising that within the expanse of an hour, Mario's world had turned inside out, upside down, rolled in the mud, and spat out toxins he didn't want to breathe in. It had first started with this incident involving the princess, Princess Peach. He hoped to God she would be okay. She seemed to have taken a huge hit on her head, and suddenly she became delusional. Everyone became an enemy to her, and that included Mario and even her own little assistant, Toadsworth.

He watched the door press against the chains that were strapped around it – a bitter reminder that things weren't okay any longer. She was trying to break free, to rip apart Toadsworth. As much as Mario hated fighting with the princess, he knew that it would be his duty to stop her if ever she were to harm an innocent life.

Mario's cerulean eyes focused down on Toadsworth, who met his gaze with his own brown beady eyes. "You can call the sedatives," the plumber told the old Toad. "They can calm her down." He took a deep breath. He himself needed to stay calm through all this.

"And what will _you _do?" Toadsworth eyed Mario critically, causing the short man to flinch. It was as if he was accusing Mario into turning into the delusional beast that Peach had unfortunately turned out to be. "Why can't you stay here and help? Why do you have to go?"

The truth was, there was more duty for Mario to attend to. What started a month or two ago wasn't just Princess Peach going insane. In fact, _just _to take advantage of the situation, Bowser decided he would try repetitively to destroy the castle. It was enough to tear at Mario's sanity. He had to keep a close watch on the castle, to make sure that Bowser wouldn't so much as approach it. If given the chance, Bowser could easily destroy the whole castle without so much as blinking an eye, and that castle was probably the only thing that made Mario feel safe anymore.

"I have to check for Bowser," Mario explained apologetically. "I'm sorry, Toadsworth. I wish I could do multiple things at once, to help everyone at once. But unfortunately I can't do that."

Toadsworth's gaze locked with Mario's, and it seemed he was still accusing. For a minute, Mario thought that the old Toad would start attacking at Mario. It wasn't something he needed, but it was something that happened regardless. Instead, however, the princess's assistant looked down at the floor sadly. "It's a lot of pressure for you, Master Mario," he sighed. "I wish things weren't like this." Toadsworth then met Mario's gaze again. "Be careful."

The mustachioed man nodded. "I will, Toadsworth."

The mushroom let go of Mario's legs, still sniffling. "It's too bad you have to handle this all yourself," he practically sobbed once more. "I guess, in situations like this, being a hero—it really isn't all it's cut out to be."

Mario managed a shaky smile. "I'll always be this castle's hero, no matter how bad it gets," he told the old Toad gently, turning on his heel. "Don't worry about me. You've got a princess to take care of."

Wiping away the tears that were forming at the brims of his eyes, Toadsworth nodded eagerly. "Yes, Master Mario! That is right." As the Toad scurried off, Mario couldn't help but shed a tear himself.

It wasn't the time to reflect, however. Mario still had places to be, places to go, besides near the door of the ravenous princess. At the same time as the princess banged against the door once more, the mustachioed man quickly headed down the stairs, surrounded by an array of pink. He nearly slipped on the red carpet beneath his feet while he rushed downward because he was in a hurry and didn't bother to look out where he was going. He felt the presence of many Toads surrounding him, most of them weeping, and Mario gritted his teeth – now wasn't the time to weep. But he'd give them a talk off later.

As soon as he opened the brown-painted door, Mario glanced around the moat, the bridge, and the field outside. It seemed, for now, the area was clear. There wasn't a sign of Bowser anywhere, though his castle was looming not far from the hills surrounding the castle. Mario hoped that the dragon wouldn't decide to sneak up on them while their backs were turned. Heaven knows what Mario would do about that.

As the older Mario brother turned around, one last thought crossed his mind – the condition of his brother. The last thing that flip-flopped in his world a month or two ago was a pattern. This pattern was his brother's sleeping pattern – first Luigi kept having consistent nightmares, and then he didn't awaken entirely. Mario was afraid the last time he'd see those bright blue eyes open would've been two weeks ago, when he finally fell into this strange coma.

He would check on him now. After all, the castle seemed safe enough, and Toadsworth would be dealing with Princess Peach.

Glancing back over the hills, the older Mario brother opened the door once more and closed it softly behind him. Some of the Toads were wailing, and some were running around. Mario didn't remember leaving these Toads in this condition – before they simply had been crying or standing stoically by themselves around the castle.

Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Mario gently tapped the shoulder of a Toad who was wailing. The Toad flinched, and Mario couldn't help but feel hurt. The Toad blinked, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hands, and turned to Mario, eyes widening. "Mario, oh Mario!" the Toad wailed.

"What's wrong?" Mario asked in as calm a voice as he could muster. The last thing he was, was calm. If something was scaring the Toads and causing them to react this way, it meant something was terribly wrong.

"Y—you'd better go to the doctor's office," the Toad replied vaguely, almost going to break into sobs once more. "You'll see when… when you get there."

Mario gulped. He had a very bad feeling about this.

---

"He's going to _what_!?"

"Mario, he's losing his grip on reality. His brain waves—"

"I don't care about the goddamn brain waves! Just—just fix my brother!"

Mario had lost all sense of calm that he had been fighting to keep. His hand had a fistful of the doctor's shirt, and the doctor trembled in his grip.

"I—I wish I could," the doctor muttered sadly. Mario was practically hyperventilating, and he had to find some way to calm the plumber down. "He has a chance of living," he comforted, "if someone finds a way to get him back to reality somehow."

The red man sighed, and gently let the Toad down. This was the worst news possible – his brother might die. He didn't want his brother to die, especially in hard times such as these. If his brother died…

"You can visit him," continued the doctor, "and maybe if you stay with him long enough you can help him."

Mario turned around. He had more business to attend to – he still had to make sure the castle was safe, and he needed to make sure that Toadsworth hadn't had his head bitten off by the princess while he was gone getting the sedatives. However, his brother needed him the most of anyone – about to die, and without a brother around to help…

"All right," Mario managed, and hated how squeaky his voice sounded. "I—I'll visit him."

The doctor nodded, taking Mario's hand. "Follow me." It wasn't that long of an escort, keeping Mario right behind him with his hand gripped. As they passed by the dancing tiles, Mario couldn't help but think the worst. The doctor had left Luigi alone for an hour. If something had happened in that moment in time…

He hadn't realized they were right by Luigi's bed within five minutes until the doctor barked, "We're here." Opening his blue eyes, he focused on the bedridden form of a peaceful Luigi, an IV drip attached to his arm and an oxygen mask on to make sure that he wouldn't forget to breathe.

The doctor turned to Mario, who didn't turn away from the sight of Luigi but did glance out of the corner of his eyes to the Toad. "If you need further assistance," the Toad told Mario, "just call me, all right? I'll be right across the room." Within a minute, before Mario could even manage to open his mouth to say "thank you," the doctor briskly walked out of the room.

The mustachioed man looked around for a chair, and, finding a silver one, slid into it and dragged it over to the bedside. Mario's cerulean gaze was once again focused over his brother. The younger Mario brother looked so peaceful, but Mario knew he was having a nightmare and he was now fighting for his life. He heard the steady beating of the heart gauge, which signaled that Luigi was still alive.

The words of the doctor haunted him.

_"Mario, his nightmare… it's destroying him. He's going to die, Mario."_

Mario had maintained a calm demeanor, even if he had gotten angry at the doctor. He still managed not to openly cry, not to show the pain that he held within him. Looking down at his brother, he felt his resolve starting to break. As he heard the steady beat of the heart gauge, he knew that no matter how much he clung to hope, no matter how much he fought, as long as he had something to lose, he would feel pain coursing through his veins.

He didn't want to lose anyone. But he was about to lose his brother, and no matter how much _he _wanted, it was more of what _fate _wanted that mattered.

Finally, Mario bent over Luigi and sobbed.


End file.
